Nostalgia Classic Countertop Cotton Candy Machine, Manual, Retro Vintage Candy Maker Includes 2 Reusable Cones & Scoop, Aqua

This snow cone machine is amazing! It’s easy to use, fast, and makes perfectly fluffy ice every time. My kids had a blast creating their own colorful snow cones, and it turned snack time into a fun activity. The machine is sturdy, cleans up easily, and works exactly as described. It’s perfect for parties, hot summer days, or just a fun treat anytime. The flavors and creativity possibilities are endless! Highly recommend—fun, easy, and a total hit with kids and adults alike!

Was nervous about the many poor reviews, particularly recent ones, so put it together carefully, read the instructions, and watched some YouTube videos about cotton candy machines. After making our first set of batches, my overall take is it's a great little unit. I had no trouble getting it going, waited the full 10 minutes for it to heat up before using it, and used candy floss sugar bought separately (unit doesn't come with any). Spun up into floss in about a minute, and was relatively easy to spin out onto cones (came with the flossing sugar), or a straw / chopstick we had around. We made about 6 'batches' consisting of about a tablespoon of sugar (the max for the unit), and they got eaten very very quickly (faster than I could make them). I set it up outside because of the reviews saying the sugar got sprayed 4 ft in every direction. I did not notice any sugar spraying out of it at all for me; my next batch I will try inside. I did however, find some perhaps 25%-50% of the sugar in the batch fails to make it into the floss, and is flung as small particles onto the walls of the bowl in a ring (where the spinning disk is). I collected it afterward (the pieces snapped off easily) and tried putting a couple big pieces in to re-melt and have less waste. That turned out not to be such a good idea, as the weighting wasn't distributed evenly for the spinning disk. The solution is to crush the hard candy into little pieces first, so that it can spin out more evenly, which I'll try next time. I stopped the machine due to the odd rotation that was occurring, and let it cool. The sugar in the head all hardened inside and looked like a fairly nasty mess to clean up. Good news is it's sugar, so it dissolves in water. After cooling for 20 mins I popped the head off and ran it under hot water and dissolved out all the sugar that had hardened inside. Took a good 10-15 mins to get it all out, so I won't be in any hurry to re-create that situation. But all in all it's straightforward to clean and looks like new again. In sum, does what it's supposed to do (makes delicious cotton candy), is easy to set up, easy to use, and easy to clean. 5 stars. Just know it's small batches, you may want to make some ahead of time if you have a bunch of kids / people that want to eat it.

I've had this cotton candy machine for years!!!! I love the rustic and nostalgic look it has to it. It is super easy and fun to use especially for birthday parties and kid get togethers. It doesn't take up to much space. And is so easy.

This works. Not as well as some, but it functions. It's nice to be able to just throw some ice cubes in the top, put the lid on and press the power switch. It grinds up the ice, somewhere between crushed and flaked. It does not have a simple way to clean it out as far as I can tell, I just leave a mug under it and let the leftover ice melt. Then I can wipe it out with a little detergent and a wet rag. I thought about getting one of the hand crank models, really this was just because I came across some shaved ice syrup I wanted to try out. My son now wants a few different flavors, he is really enjoying the simplicity of using this little machine. We do not use the supplied plastic cone, which does have a stand that also folds away so you can put other mugs/cups under it. I think you could easily fit a twelve ounce cup/mug but not a full size glass (sixteenish ounces). So shorter cups or large mugs fit. Obviously if there is no easy way to clean the ice out it will drip until the ice has melted. You could probably tip the ice out the top and then just run a little hot water through it to clean out the rest on the blade and in the chute. However, if you just leave it a couple hours with a mug underneath and the top open the ice melts and drips into the mug and the inside dries fairly easily. This isn't likely to be an appliance that lasts through several generations. It likely won't last more than a couple years. However, it was inexpensive and does the job it says it will with the least amount of effort. You don't have to make a giant ice cube that is perfectly shaped for the machine, you just pull ice out of the freezer, whatever shape your ice is, and put it in the machine, it has a funnel type shape with a blade that rotates around crushing/shaving the ice. The machine and most of the parts are plastic. There are no other functions other than just on and off. It is a little loud (think blender or food processor). It does tend to shift around if you don't have it on a sturdy surface or if you put too much ice in it to start. I used a combination of crushed and solid ice cubes because that is what my ice dispenser decided to give me even though I selected solid cubes. I don't think it really matters size or shape as long as it fits in the funnel. If you are only mildly interested in making a icees/snow cones every once in a while like I was it will get that job done. If you are looking for something that is going to be used every day for months or years invest in a sturdier machine. I personally didn't even know if we were going to like the syrup, but now I am looking forward to making Hawaiian ice with my nephews next week.

Amazing gift for my grandchildren! You'll be surprised by how much cotton candy 1 tablespoon of sugar makes! Great quality and looks vintage!

We had gotten a defective unit. The center motor did not spin upon turning on like it’s supposed to. I figured maybe something banged upside the box and made it a couple of mm off so I hit the side of the cotton candy machine and it magically started spinning. Nothing looked damaged or off so I figured it was just off by a little bit during shipping. We followed the instructions exactly as it states. We let it heat up for a good 15 minutes. We put some candy floss in (we had to buy separately this unit does NOT come with any candy or floss to use) and it kind of made some cotton candy. I used to have a similar machine years ago so I know how to operate one, something was just off. We barely were able to get any cotton candy made when I noticed there was a lot of smoke coming from the inside where the motor was. I looked down into the crevasse and saw embers! Then I saw flames! Unit caught on fire before our eyes. Immediately turned unit off, and blew out the flame. I let it cool, cleaned everything to the best of my ability and back to Amazon it went. Bummer because it was a gift my son really wanted for Christmas. We will stick with buying already made cotton candy, this ruined me ever buying another machine again.

The Nostalgia Snow Cone Shaved Ice Machine has a fun retro design, and it definitely works for making snow cones! It does produce shaved ice, but the machine can be quite loud during operation, which may be a little off-putting for some. Additionally, it doesn't shave the ice as consistently as I would have liked—sometimes the ice doesn't turn out as finely crushed as expected. However, it’s still functional and gets the job done, especially for casual use. The reusable plastic cup is a nice touch, and it’s great for family gatherings or kids' parties. If you're not too concerned about the noise and occasional inconsistency, it’s a fun machine to have for a nostalgic treat

Pictured is the one I made with 3 sugar free jolly ranchers (1 at a time like the instructions say). Its smooshed shape is likely because this is my first attempt and I need to practice, but I’m just excited that I get to make sugar free cotton candy at home. Cotton candy is my favorite treat when I need to pull up my inner childish joy, but I couldn’t find sugar free anywhere and didn’t even know if it was possible to make. It is! A word of advice: Believe the instructions when it says to hold the stick HORIZONTALLY. Regardless of what you remember the pros doing at the fair. I like the reusable sticks, but I might buy some paper ones to try as the cotton candy tends to slide off the top of the plastic stick if I tip it while trying to shape it. This is true with both the sugar free jolly ranchers and the floss sugar I bought from Concession Essentials. Also with the sticks I know you’re supposed to hold the smaller of the tapered ends but I don’t have a stand to put them in so I hold the wide end and it lets me put it down on a flat surface (pic #2 - made with 2 scoops, 1 at a time, of regular floss sugar) Pic #3 is the first one we made with 1 scoop of floss sugar and where my son found a creative place to put it down because I hadn’t realized the thing about the tapered ends yet. I love the Nostalgia brand because it comes in my favorite color. I just wish everything they made didn’t say “NOSTALGIA” in huge letters on the front. It’s a bit too on the nose and when you buy more than 1 of their products the word is written all over your kitchen. But still 5 stars for how easy it is to use. Because overall the product worked exactly as it should and it was easy to set up and use once I read the instructions. I haven’t cleaned it yet, enjoying my cotton candy now. But it looks like it won’t be too hard. I think I’m going to collect the little candy crunchies from the side and find something I can make with those. Maybe sprinkle them on the cotton candy to make it sparkle. I don’t know. Excited to try new things!